Babysitter

Memory is a very fickle thing. It takes time, but with enough luck, Hans manages to trace his home by referring to his memories of the streets back in the mirror realm.

"This place looks familiar, let's go left."

Following him like a chick to a mother hen, Mira clasps on Hans's cuffs.

Finally.

Hans after a couple of hours of walking successfully returns home, to his very own apartment flat.

"Address is 1885 by Janett Street… I will remember that…"

Just before his apartment's door, Hans finds himself in agony as he slowly realizes he doesn't have the key. More than one way or another, the mirror realm did fuck him miserably. As the 'law of possession' in the mirror realm, it is easy for him to go back and forth from his apartment to the outside even without needing the keys.

It is definitely to his shortsightedness that he is suffering this terribly.

"I must change. I cannot have this. If I want to survive in this world, I should stop being sloppy." At the back of his mind, he is thinking that maybe this is just one terrible nightmare, or maybe even a product of his hallucination. Though he might not look like it as he is a fiction writer, he is actually a very rational man who adheres to logical evidence without sham and superstition.

Obstructing him at this very moment is his own apartment door. As his key should be inside, Hans has nothing to use to open the door except magic. With little thinking, Hans devises a plan in mind.

"Mira, give me a kiss."

At this point, Mira is already tired of Hans's ridiculous antics and seemingly illogical behavior. So with little interest as to why, she just gives it to Hans. Her lips lightly peck Hans's cheeks, and just like that, Hans feels his inside filling up with something.

It is a very mystical feeling to him.

Hans kindly explains to Mira the intention behind his request. "The source of magic in this world is love. While a lot of expressions are derived from love like affection, it is unmistakable that the essence of magic is love."

"Also," Hans carefully adds, emphasizing the importance of his words. "You can give kisses to others, but you cannot receive them or you will suffer a heart attack. It is one of your Geass restrictions. Do remember that."

"So, where was I? Ah~ the source of magic…" Hans delves into the 'self' in a meditative trance by interacting with his Geass. As a newly awakened mage, it is definitely difficult for him, but as he has two Geasses, it seems that the restrictions in tandem are compensating for his limitations by giving him more freedom on his magic control.

In the novel, Love and Magic, there is this 'founding theory' that serves as the basis of the magic spells in this world— it is called God's Love theory— that love is infinite, and its energy is sublime. It is a simple phrase yet, this phrase is the very origin of magic. Rather than a 'school of thought', this theory is so much more complex than one might imagine.

As long as a person has 'love', they have magic. Hans knows, after all, this magic system is the very foundation of the novel. Hans has a lot of time to think, and too little time to agonize. In the end, he still manages to create a magic system that is quite decent as he barely meets up the deadline of his daily chapter update.

There are two schools of thoughts branching from the founding theory which are (1) Logia Magica which focuses on functions of magic, and (2) Imagina Resulta which delineates from logic and spurs the imagination.

Hans raises his right hand and unlocks the door with a thought by using his shabby understanding of Imagina Resulta as the author of this world. "Unlock…" He whispers to the doorknob as if giving a command, and so the doorknob wills it. The doorknob turns and welcomes the two of them inside.

Then.

The two of them enter the apartment with heavy shoulders.

Sloppily removing his shoes, Hans immediately falls down to the mattress idly lying on the floor by the door. He didn't even bother removing his suit. It has been a very long night.

Similarly, Mira removes her shoes and casually throws the stockings she has been carrying since the start. She squeezes herself into Hans's bed.

For a bed, the mattress is certainly of cheap quality, but it is better than cartons. Hans imagining himself being homeless and sleeping on cartons shudders at the thought. He quickly falls asleep. The mirror realm, walking a long distance of curves, and casting magic for the first time— this is intensively exhausting work so it is explainable how Hans is so tired.

Mira though is a little bit suspicious as she is asleep when Hans first time meets her, yet even now, she remains sleepy.

The night silently passes its time, and as the moon above makes its exit, and the skies welcome the sun, Hans's phone alarm clock starts ringing and crazily singing hallelujah.

"Ha~ llelujah! Ha~~ llelujah! Hallelujah! Halle~ee~lujah…"

It is definitely not the serenade version, but the noisy kind. The one that shouts and screams hallelujah. Even to this world, this praise 'hallelujah' still exists which baffles Hans as a 'church' should not even exist in this world.

With wide eyes, Hans panics to turn off the alarm.

Mira is still deep asleep leaving Hans on his own.

Hans looks around, opens the window, and finds the sun to be at high noon. Checking up on his phone, Hans realizes that it is close to lunch already. "Damn…" As he is about to prepare to make a quick lunch, someone interrupts him.

Suddenly, a series of knocks resound from the door. "Hello? Anyone their? This is Magic Inspector Tammy! Does the newly awakened Hans Neverine live here?"

"Wait, coming!" Hans shouts rather exaggeratedly instilling panic in his voice. While he cannot lie, it will not stop him from deceiving others if need be through omission and silent treatment. If they misunderstand his lack of actions and cleverly twist his words, Hans believes that he will be able to get away from lying.

There are loopholes to Geass restrictions, and even if the restrictions are as severe as he has, Hans will be able to find and exploit the loophole.

Hans fumbles on his mess of belongings. Grabbing a face mask for himself, he covers his mouth, effectively hiding the Geass in his tongue. Opening the door for the Magic Inspector, he greets her with a warm welcome. "Good noon… Is this for the registration?"

"Yep," Tammy, the Magic Inspector smiles at him. "Let's see… You have so little 'Love Power' in you, pal… You must have been lucky!"

Brown hair like wheat, and weirdly pink eye pupils like azalea. Tammy has an eerie smile on her face. Despite her baby face, and seemingly innocent impression, Hans feels this sense of dread that she exudes.

"Please sign here, and here, and here… Just fill it up with your data..." Handing a form for Hans to fill up seems to conclude the registration as Tammy leaves Hans to his own. "You can send the form to the Bureau through email— I will be goners now, so toodles!" She adds.

Hans doesn't exactly know how registrations for newly awakened mages go as he didn't really elaborate on it in the story. He simply just knows that there is a registration.

"She looks familiar…" Hans falls into contemplation of the identity of the Magic Inspector. "Ah~ it is her…" Hans grimaces recalling a particularly scary character— Tammy Aurelius, the heroine's aunt.

"The world is really scary…"

Without wasting more time, Hans quickly attends to his registration form and sends it through email. Though he might be lacking in terms of actual 'common sense' of this world, Hans possesses unique insights to his own.

For example, there must be a rationale behind Tammy's visitation. From the Bureau of Magic's perspective, this must be how they usually do things as the government of this world are quite strict in its ways, especially things that involve magic. Hans bet that the Magic Inspector's only responsibility is personally giving the registration form which might look more like an errand than a job. Meanwhile, from Tammy's perspective, she must have an agenda of her own like checking up on her niece.

Thinking deeply and logically about the most recent occurrence, Hans calmly flips the omelet in his pan. The smell of the egg, garlic, tomatoes, and onion mixes on the pan drifts in the air causing the sleeping Mira to wake up.

"Food?" She meekly asks as she sits from the mattress while the lace in her gown slides from her shoulder.

Hans frowns at the sight of this. He realizes, at this very moment, he might end up becoming the main heroine's nanny and babysitter.

"Bah~! Babysitter? No way!" Scoffing at the very idea of babysitting, Hans in no way can imagine it happening.